Being A Leader For Your Team

Saturday of a big week. End of a big week. Start of a new week. Saturday, middle of July 2025, Melbourne. Reflection on the week that was. This week, our co-founder and I made a decision to part ways amicably, and it was a sad ending to which I've done quite a long video about because I felt so passionate and moved by the lessons I'd learned that I wanted to share it. On the back of that, I'm not ashamed that I cried for 2 solid days because the co-founder was and is a brother and a friend, and the sun just shone, and how lucky am I? Seeing the team rally to support both him and I separately, independently, at work and in personal life has been one of the most humbling experiences of having a team. Anyone that's followed any of my journey knows that a few years ago I was alone. Very alone. And that led me to a dark, difficult place. One of the beautiful things in having a team was that I was no longer alone. And I don't think I'd felt it as much over the past 2 years with building the team as I did over the past 3 days when everyone has risen to the occasion and far exceeded any expectation that I ever had. I never thought that they'd be like that. I just didn't have that expectation. But having everyone step up at work, taking a bit more responsibility to take the weight off my shoulders is awesome because I've already got a lot that's going on and trying to keep afloat, it's not easy sometimes. In my personal life, they've all stepped up to make sure that I'm doing well, I'm eating, keeping sane, I'm not delivering late on projects, that everything is above board and that we're still holding to our highest standards. Some of the team are flying down to be here. As you know, we have a remote team Building culture remotely can be really, really tricky. And there's other videos that I talk about how we do that, how we've been able to do that. But nothing beats— isn't that right? Nothing beats— at least someone's listening, guys. Nothing beats in person. So there's 2 of them who are flying out to spend the next 2 weeks with me to help fix some of the solutions that we're productizing to make some of the things that were dreams for the next 2, 3 years a reality and a lot sooner. One of the things that I am humbled by is the fact that people didn't complain. They saw it for what it was, didn't bitch and moan and carry on, and just said, what can we do? What extra duties can we carry? What other roles or responsibilities can we help with that will take that off your plate? If you're a boss and you're watching this and you keep complaining about your team not being good enough, not being trained enough, not being enough of anything. Like the co-founder and I did, which ended up in us choosing to part ways, I would encourage you to look in the mirror first. The team is always a reflection of you, always. No matter how big it gets, I fail to believe that even those companies which are doing the millions and the billions didn't start with somebody's vision, somebody's articulation of a clear goal, a clear vision that everyone could get behind. If you are messy and sloppy, you can expect a messy and sloppy team. If you are proper, if you have values, if you have etiquette, rules that you follow, if you have a high level of attention to detail, the fact that that's how you are is what the culture becomes. So much so that the words that the team start using start rubbing off on one another. So you have to be mindful of the words you use. You have to be mindful of how you present. Physically, emotionally, when they ask you a question, if you don't have the time of day because you're too busy in your own head to give them an answer because they should know, you're doing nobody any good. You then come back and say, they're stupid, they're dumb, they're not good enough, staff suck. And I hear this all the time because I fly out all around the world at the moment consulting on this stuff, and everyone has the same complaint. We can't wait for AI, we can't wait for machines, for computers to stop dealing with people. We're not babysitters. It's like, you're not a babysitter. Stop bloody thinking of yourself as a babysitter. You are in charge, you are in leadership, you are responsible for those people who are in your care. That's not the duty of a babysitter. They're not children. They're there for you to lead, to encourage and guide, not to babysit. The fact that you would use that language highlights, doesn't it, Emma? You see, she's heard all about my frustration after a big day. I come home and I tell them, like, people think when they're running organizations that they have to babysit staff. That word burns me because if you're a boss or a leader or a manager who thinks in that way, that that is your job, or that you are their psychologist or you're their therapist— no, you're not. What you are is there, you're supposed to guide, encourage, support, be a friend, someone to listen to. Understand that if you want good output at work, the best strategy is a great culture, is one where people can come to work and own their mistakes, own their wins, get credit for their wins, where they can be fully transparent. But if there is something that is weighing them down in their work life that you understand as a human, they don't just have an off switch because you don't have an off switch either. That if they're having a bad day in life, we have these days here too sometimes, don't we? That if they're having a bad day in life as a human, showing up as a father, as a mother, as a son, as a friend, and something's wrong at home, that's going to trickle down, that's going to filter through. You can't get away from seeing that in the workplace. Your job isn't to then become a therapist, isn't then to say that you're babysitting them. It's to sit with them in the mud very many times like I've done with my people and say, hey, I'm here for you. For you. We exist because of you. We couldn't do this without you and we want you here. What can I do as a friend, as a leader, somebody that you can confide in? What can I hear from you? I've got 5, 10, 15 minutes that I can find for you, and even if I don't have it, I'm gonna clear that in my diary. Every time I have done that, the person has shared with me something that they feel is a burden in their life, something on their heart that they can't share with their friends or family. It's just they needed someone to talk to about it, and they've been carrying this. It's like a dark cloud. Sorry, I'm not patting you. It's like a dark cloud that hangs over their head that they just say, "Hey, I just need someone to talk to." And many times when I didn't have anyone, I had this beautiful girl who just sit there listening, and sometimes I learnt from her is the best teacher ever, that you don't always have to even respond. Her presence, or just her sincerity when she looks at me and says— I know she's listening, but she can't respond, and I wonder what she'd say if she could. Just me being there for the team, listening to them venting, being upset, having a safe place to talk and get whatever it is off their chest. Just having that avenue meant that they were lighter. Smilier. The whole vibe in the office changed because all of a sudden there was no negative nancies around. Everyone was a little bit chirpier. Nobody was worried about having to tread light or walking on eggshells in case they pissed off somebody. And immediately the productivity of the whole team picked up. One bad egg, we all know this, can ruin the whole bunch. And so if it takes you 10 minutes that you don't have to change the rest of the 8 hours that you also aren't going to have if you don't spend 10 minutes. And that's for the whole team because it rubs off on everyone. Fundamentally flawed and wrong with the way that you think. You are not their babysitter. You are somebody who is in authority or in leadership to take care of and to ensure that they are fine. That's what puts you in that position. And if you're in that position and you don't think that's true, then maybe the job isn't for you. If you just wanted to boss people around and tell people what to do and give orders, then maybe you don't understand what a manager is or what a leader is. Maybe you should start looking in the mirror and say, the team is a reflection of me, what can I do? And so here's what we've done. I'm going to share with you some of the stuff that I've done in my, in my workplace that helps a lot. Once a week for 15 minutes, every team member, no matter how far they are removed from me, is scheduled in my diary to sit down and just check in on their well-being. It's called a well-being meeting. All I do for 15 minutes is say, hey, I'm busy, you're busy, I don't want to talk about work. There's other managers who are doing that with you. All I want to know is how are you going? How's life? Are you enjoying the job? What can we do to improve it? Is it aligned with your goals? 15 minutes, guys, once a week. It's scheduled in. I don't miss it. The other part to having it scheduled in is I rock up to that meeting like I would to a sale. A lot of us who have teams keep our teams like we keep our partners. They get whatever's left of us at the end of a big day. I'm sure if you're watching this you can agree. When you get home, if you had a bad day, you take it out on the missus, on the children, or you don't, you can't be bothered because you're tired. And you know what happens in those relationships. If you rock up to your team meetings like that with the one-on-ones and they get whatever's left of you at the end of the day, what do you think is going to happen? You've lived your whole life living like that. What happens when you rock up to a sale? And what makes a sale— she's following my head— what makes a sale so awesome? A sale is awesome because you rock up with the intention of giving them your all. And we all know, if any of us are in sales, the more you rock up with the energy, with the thought that you're going to give it your all and you're going to get it, and you're confident and you're full of life, there's a higher likelihood you'll get the sale. Why do we not understand this when it comes to our team and our partners? This is foolish. Get to those— schedule the meetings, get to those meetings on time, and get to them with enough mental capacity so that when they are talking, you are actively listening and you're not just nodding your head like this, because you wouldn't do that in a sale. And make sure that you are genuinely and sincerely curious and interested about what it is that they say. Like the beautiful Emma here in my life, you don't have to have answers. Most of us as people just need somebody to talk to. Now if you say to me, JP, what good is that for my business? I'm going to tell you. Once I started doing this, we could see from a KPI point of view that everybody's performance increased. There was less bad days, the vibe in the office was higher, and more often than not, projects were going out on time, and the delivery of the project was actually enjoyable. When we met with a crisis, the team knew that they had a safe space. They knew they could consult their manager. They knew once a week they were going to speak to me, and whatever they were feeling— because some of them are so awesome. This is what happens when you have such great people. The people on your team are so good that they don't need you to be a critic. When you hire good talent, they are already their own harshest critic. Your job therefore is to sit there. Your beautiful duty is to serve and make sure that they have the tools, the resources that they need, and that you are listening. So they already feel crap coming into those meetings if they've had a poor week. Your job is to pick them up and remind them that you're going for gold, that you're trying to be the best, that nothing has gone wrong because they made a mistake, because they fell forward. Your job is to remind them of what it means to get up every day, what it means to be at a company like Mbya Blueprint. When all you do is you learn from the mistake, you fall forward, you pick up and you keep going. I do that. It works. Why wouldn't it work for you? I am absolutely sick of hearing about it, and it's, it's a poor reflection on the leaders that we've become. I go out into the workplaces, men in manufacturing, men in motion, men in the space, men who are leaders in the industry that we serve, that I love, and all they do is complain about people aren't good enough. I urge you, when I ask you— sorry, I got dog hair everywhere, don't I? I urge you and I encourage you, it all starts with the man in the mirror. Michael Jackson said it before me, and I'm not even going to try and sing because I can't sing for shit. But if the team isn't what you want it to be and you're trying to hold somebody accountable and you've done everything and you've searched everything, the one thing you probably haven't done is taken a closer look at yourself. And if that's too hard, because I couldn't look at in the mirror for a lot of my own life. Then sit with a dog, sit with a beer, sit somewhere in silence away from your phone, away from distractions, and just go deeper within and reflect on what you are doing and what you are not doing. Find out, ask yourself the question is, if I am getting this result which is not what I wanted, what have I done? What have I contributed? What should I change that will give me a result that I do desire? That's all for that one. There's a lot there. Go out, do your best, start with you, and as always, think your hardest, work your best, and know that God will always take care of the rest. Till next time.